Steve Glor, with his 7-year-old twins, Trevor and Brittney, showed off "The Carnivore," the pickup that transforms into a tailgating machine.

Think slow-smoked carnitas, cedar-plank grilled brownies with toffee, blended drinks for guests to sip at three butcher-block bars, two attached barbecue grills, a satellite dish and seven television screens, all contained within his customized truck.

Yes, his truck.

Glor, 38, is the owner of “The Carnivore,” a vehicle that began life as a 2005 Chevrolet pickup and has since morphed into a flame-covered, rolling sports bar and grill.

“I do everything all the way or not at all,” said Glor, of Rancho Peñasquitos. “And this is all the way.”

Glor is one of five finalists competing in a nationwide tailgating contest being sponsored by Frito-Lay, the Texas-based snack company. The public has until Nov. 30 to vote on a winner.

Online: To vote in the Tostitos "Beat My Tailgate" challenge, go to tostitos.com

The grand prize is a free trip for the winner and seven friends to the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl in Glendale, Ariz., in January. A catered VIP tailgate party is included in the deal, though not the winner's own.

“We figured they have worked so hard putting these tailgates together during the year, they deserve to be treated like VIPs,” said Chris Kuechenmeister, a Frito-Lay spokesman.

Glor, the only finalist on the West Coast, is up against competitors who include the owners of a custom party trailer with leather couches, hardwood floors, and a horn that blasts “On Wisconsin” in honor of their favorite college team; and a tailgate crew from Pennsylvania that lugs around 800 pounds of sand to create tailgate “beach” parties in the Rust Belt.

As he prepped yesterday outside his Poway office for today's Chargers game, Glor said he wasn't impressed.

“They'd better be smoking a pig in that sand,” he said.

Glor, also an Aztecs fan with undergraduate and graduate business degrees from San Diego State University, has been tailgating with friends since high school. He has done his time in the trenches: Football games, NASCAR races, Jimmy Buffett concerts.

He didn't turn into the man behind “The Carnivore,” however, until after he landed a marketing job six years ago with a former supervisor who went into business selling auto-mounted barbecue grills.

Scott Salter founded Freedom Grill in Poway after designing a grill that could be attached to a car “like a bicycle rack.” At first, Glor tailgated with his boss and other friends, cooking on the grill mounted to the back of Salter's wife's SUV.

Glor's own tailgate rig consisted of nothing more than his Infiniti SUV. Then three years ago, newly divorced and with extra time on his hands, he came up with “The Carnivore.”

Auto suppliers, including the grill company, provided Glor with parts in exchange for sponsorship, and he put in the rest. The truck took three years and $250,000 in labor and parts to complete.

“It's not only The Carnivore because of meat and cooking,” Glor said, “but also because it ate all my money.”

The pickup, finished last fall, converts from truck to party-on-wheels with the push of a button behind the driver's seat. The sides of the bed flip out to reveal wood-topped bars, while the tonneau rises to reveal three flat screens and one mini-screen. Three additional screens are inside. And while coolers are welcome, the front console contains a refrigerator.

Perhaps the best part is the paint job. Cleverly disguised among the biker-style flames, painted by a Las Vegas motorcycle paint shop, are tongs, knives and basting brushes.

Glor said his tailgate parties draw up to 30 guests, and those are just the invited ones.

“The parties are great,” said regular guest Keith Justus, 49, of Rancho San Diego. “It's the best part of the game, almost.”